Prop. C money finally arrives for Mission Bay

MISSION BAY PARK  With revenues rising again for hotels and other businesses, a fundraising mechanism approved by city voters has been triggered for the first time and will lead to $2.5 million in additional improvements this year to Mission Bay Park.

The money is available because Proposition C — which 67 percent of voters favored in 2008 — calls for a significant portion of excess revenues generated by leases there to be reinvested in the 4,235-acre park.

The initiative was supposed to be a financial boon for Mission Bay Park, but the economic recession saw lease revenues dip and no extra money was generated until now.

City Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who along with former Councilwoman Donna Frye pushed for Proposition C, announced the $2.5 million sum during his “State of the District” address Wednesday night. The money will go toward an estimated $400 million in repairs and other planned park projects.

“It’s great news. There’s so many needs for that money for environmental protection, water quality and public access in Mission Bay,” he said in an interview. “The promise of Prop. C, which I authored several years ago, is becoming reality.”

The park, first dedicated by the city in 1962, attracts about 15 million people annually. Seaworld opened there in 1964 and many other business followed. Commercial development was encouraged over the years provided that some of the money raised from leases would be used to maintain the park.

Concerns grew in the past couple decades that while hotels, restaurants and sports outlets flourished less and less money was being put back in the park. In 2002, the council created a fund to benefit the park, but the money was always diverted to other general purposes as budget woes enveloped City Hall.

Proposition C was devised as a way to establish money for the park that city leaders couldn’t use elsewhere.

The measure changed the city charter to require city officials to set aside 75 percent of lease revenues that exceed $23 million for the park. After five years, the threshold drops to $20 million.

Proposition C listed seven goals, in order of priority, to achieve with the extra park funding. Dredging topped the list followed by wetland expansion, stabilizing erosion controls, expanding preserves for endangered or threatened species, completion of bicycle and pedestrian paths, restoration of sea walls and other deferred maintenance.

The remaining 25 percent of the revenues are to be spent on six regional parks, including Balboa, Chollas Lake and Otay River Valley.

It wasn’t supposed to take this long. In 2008, the city was collecting about $27 million a year from Mission Bay Park leases and Proposition C proponents predicted the measure could raise as much as $11.7 million annually for the park.

The recession decimated those hopes, but Faulconer said that as the economy recovers the money going back into the park should continue to increase.

One quirk to the initiative is that the regional parks get the first crack at excess revenue and are guaranteed the first $2.5 million. So even though revenues slightly exceeded $23 million in 2011 and 2012 all of the extra money went to regional parks and none to Mission Bay Park.

Lease revenues were $28 million this year, exceeding the threshold enough to provide money to Mission Bay Park for the first time.